Frame Semantics and LVC Alternation in Persian

Focusing on the argument alternation of some Light Verb Constructions (LVCs) in Persian, we will show how a frame-based description of verbal polysemy may be used to answer some questions about syntactic behavior and argument structures associated with such verbs. In Persian, a number of LVCs consisting of a light verb and a preverb (PV) participate in causative alternation. The causative variant is formed with the LV ændaxtæn 'cause to fall', and the anti-causative variant is formed with oftadæn 'fall'. But in some cases, the anti-causative variant is not acceptable by native speakers of Persian, whereas the causative variant is acceptable. The peculiar behavior of these verbs in different contexts is explained in the framework of Frame Semantics (Fillmore & Atkins, 1992). We will argue that these verbs are associated with two semantic frames. Contrary to Karimi-Doostan (2005) who claims that the argument structure of LVCs is determined by PVs, and Folli, Harley & Karimi (2005) who propose that both PVs and LVs compositionally contribute to the A-structure of LVCs, using the notion of Frames (Fillmore & Baker, 2010), we propose that the whole construction including the LVC determines its A-structure.